Interesting Roommates
by Reyka Sivao
Summary: Roommates at Starfleet Academy are luck of the draw.


Starfleet Academy was very strict about promoting diversity on campus. In fact, humans who had never left Earth were almost guaranteed to be matched with a roommate from another world.

This was certainly true for Nyota Uhura, who, despite having a few relatives in Starfleet already, had never actually managed to get beyond Luna Station, which hardly counted as "offworld". So she wasn't exactly surprised when she was matched with her class's lone Orion cadet.

She was, however, less than thrilled with her new roommate's proclivity to bring guys back to their shared room at all hours of the day or night.

"Why are you always bringing guys back to our room?" she asked once, in annoyance.

Gaila only looked at her like the question made no sense. "Because the women I've asked haven't been interested," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It had taken a bit of negotiation to figure out baseline rules for when and how long they could have visitors over, and even then, Uhura never took advantage of them, and Gaila fudged them every time she thought she could get away with it.

"But you said you'd be out late!" she tried defensively, on more than one occasion.

"That doesn't mean I want to come back to front-row seats of you eating some guy's tonsils out!"

Gaila huffed. "I'm better than _that_," she complained, and the visitor thing went back to its status as background tension until the next time it came up.

Still, in other ways, Starfleet's insistence on matching disparate roommates did finally start paying off in other ways.

"You have a _beautiful_ singing voice," said Gaila wistfully, and Uhura abruptly realized she'd been singing to herself while she studied. "I wish I could do that."

"Thanks," she said. "I come from a family of the musically-inclined."

Gaila laughed. "I could believe that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone hum Klingon opera to themselves while they study before."

Uhura looked up in surprise. "You recognized that?"

Gaila nodded. "Oh, I love music. Klingon opera, Vulcan love ballads, Terran dance tunes…"

Uhura turned away from her computer, homework forgotten. "Will you teach me something from Orion?" she asked eagerly.

Gaila grinned. "Only if you'll sing something for me."

Gaila did indeed end up teaching Uhura several Orion songs, as well as what of the language Uhura could cajole out of her between classes.

"I don't know how you keep it all straight," Gaila said with a shake of her head. "How many languages have you got going right now?"

"Five," said Uhura, "unless you were asking what I was already fluent in."

Gaila laughed. "Just learning standard was enough of a trial for me. I don't know how you do it."

Uhura smiled. It was easier now—a lot easier than she would have guessed from their first interactions. "As long as you keep tutoring me in wormhole cosmology, I'll learn all the languages you care to throw at me."

Gaila made a sound of mock-indignation. "Wormholes are easy. Figuring out what the hell a subjunctive is supposed to do in hard."

Uhura laughed. "You'd have a hard time working with theoretical modals without the subjunctive mood," she said, "but fair enough."

Gaila only lay back on her bunk, stretching luxuriously, and tucked her hands under her red hair. "Sing something for me?" she said.

Uhura smiled and started on the rousing chorus from one of their favorite Klingon operas.

Then there was that time at one of the Academy's formal events (required attendance for future line officers). The offworld embassies tended to send their less-important dignitaries to get some earth-style etiquette practice-some of whom were better at it than others. At one of these in particular, Uhura found herself nodding along to an elderly Rigelian diplomat's excruciatingly uninteresting tales of diplomatic exploits as important as the time he'd helped negotiate a slight increase in trade caps with Andor.

"I see, well, that's-" she tried for the fifth time to gracefully excuse herself, only to be interrupted with another story. She tried not to make a face and started calculating just how abruptly she could break off the conversation without causing a diplomatic incident.

"Having fun yet?" said a familiar voice, and then Gaila's arm was resting on her shoulder in distinctly casual pose that Uhura was fairly certain wasn't any more comfortable for Orion anatomy than human. She suppressed another undiplomatic face.

"Save me," she muttered in Orion

Gaila muttered a laugh, and then put on her most formal face.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting," she interrupted, "but I was hoping to steal this lovely lady away for a dance before the night's over."

The ambassador good-humoredly glanced up. "Oh my, it has been a while, hasn't it? Ah well, don't let me keep you. The young should enjoy themselves at events like these."

Gaila laughed and thanked him with a polite bow, and then turned to Uhura and swept her long red gown into a curtsy.

"May I have this dance, Nyota?"

Uhura's own more severely-cut dress didn't lend itself well to curtsies, so she bowed back.

"By all means," she replied in kind, and took Gaila's offered hand and followed her to the dance floor. "Thanks," she whispered when they were a polite distance away. "I don't think I could have stood another minute of detailed Rigelian political history."

Gaila only laughed again. "Any time," she said. "Do you want to lead, or shall I?"

"You'd better," said Uhura.

Gaila smiled and wrapped one hand around Uhura's shoulderblade and took the other hand in hers.

"You wouldn't think a Vulcan tune would be so easy to dance to," remarked Gaila as she began to move. She was an excellent leader, and guided them easily among the moving bodies on the dance floor.

Uhura's lips twitched. "If you end up half as good a captain as you are a dance partner, can I be on your ship?"

Gaila grinned. "I shall put in a request to have you as my communications partner." She blinked and missed a step in the dance. "...officer," she corrected. "Communications officer who is also occasionally a dance partner, perhaps." She smiled again and tossed Uhura unexpectedly into an elaborate turn.

Uhura grinned back as she came back around and put her hand back on Gaila's shoulder. "You know, I think I'd like that," she said. "We could be chess partners and duet partners and possibly even espionage partners."

"Partners in crime?" suggested Gaila cheerfully.

"Depends on who's defining the crime," said Uhura contemplatively.

Gaila laughed again and steered them away from a slower-moving couple. "Maybe better stick to 'dance partners' right at the moment. I don't know if I can dance and scheme at the same time. Afterwards, though, I suppose it would be appropriate for me to ask you out for coffee."

Uhura frowned to herself for a moment. "I'm not sure if you're joking," she said.

Gaila shrugged under her arm. "I love coffee," she said. "Best thing earth ever invented. Otherwise..." she shrugged again. "I pretty much just wing it when it comes to human relationships anyway, so I could probably arrange that to mean whatever you want it to mean."

The song ended, and Gaila spun Uhura out into one last spin.

Uhura came to a stop and thought for a moment.

"That place down the street has good coffee."

Gaila grinned again. "Think we've paid our dues here? We could sneak out early."

"You weren't kidding about the partners in crime thing, were you?" said Uhura in mock-horror.

"Nope," said Gaila, unfazed. "What do you say, then?"

Uhura grinned suddenly. "I say, last one there buys."


End file.
